NIKON D4 announced

Joe McNally has had it for a few weeks and calls it "a game changer" on his blog post. Sounds good to me. My finger is pulsing over the pre-order button, but if supply isn't going to be an issue, can't see any reason to pre-order as there will surely be more competitive prices immediately after release ... or not?
 
Some of the new AF modes sound interesting. In the video on the Fro's website he said the 3D AF has been refined so you can select it to track say an athletes face dynamically rather than the athlete in general..if they go out of shot and come back into shot within a second it picks the athletes face back up.
 
Beardy said:
Some of the new AF modes sound interesting. In the video on the Fro's website he said the 3D AF has been refined so you can select it to track say an athletes face dynamically rather than the athlete in general..if they go out of shot and come back into shot within a second it picks the athletes face back up.
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That kinda explains the bizarre move of putting facial recognition on a pro level camera.
 
straycat said:
wow he must be respected to have been given it first.
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Maybe not after admitting he dropped one. ;) :LOL:

It apparently survived none the worse for it though.


Not that it affects me, but I'm underwhelmed by the D4. :shrug: The D3 was a huge jump from the D2X, Full Frame sensor aside, with the improved AF and improved ISO amongst other things which were so far ahead of the Canon's of the time. This release seems not as big a jump.

I expected more cross type focus points, better ISO performance, more frames per second (though with AF unlike the top speed of the 1DX ;) :LOL:) maybe GPS, maybe USB 3, more video options and more radical redesign, though the duel mini joysticks look good, but similar to the Canon 1DX. The XQD card slot was a surprise, though judging from the continuous 100+ RAW files, looks like it is worth its inclusion.

If I had a D3S I doubt I would see much of a reason to upgrade, and these are people who it is aimed at. :thinking:


Joe McNally says the D4 has a certain undefinable something about the image quality, and while he may not be totally unbiased,;) is well respected.
 
Why oh why did Nikon have to produce a new camera with movie mode???? It must rank as one of the biggest blunders yet by Nikon. Anyone with any sense who wanted to shoot movies will go and buy a proper camcorder built for the job. If Nikon had stuck to making a "proper" DSLR stills camera only with that spec the price would have dropped considerably and sold a lot more.

Sorry Nikon but you have messed up big time with the D4.

Realspeed
 
realspeed said:
Why oh why did Nikon have to produce a new camera with movie mode???? It must rank as one of the biggest blunders yet by Nikon. Anyone with any sense who wanted to shoot movies will go and buy a proper camcorder built for the job. If Nikon had stuck to making a "proper" DSLR stills camera only with that spec the price would have dropped considerably and sold a lot more.

Sorry Nikon but you have messed up big time with the D4.

Realspeed
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Saying they've messed up big time putting video in might be a little OTT as video in DSLR is here to stay unfortunately. And because of that they need to keep up with Canon, otherwise they'll miss out on sales. I see where you're coming from, but I think the days of videoless DSLRs might be gone :eek:
 
OK, read it in a bit more detail and engaged my brain a bit- a few months since I've used one but I remembered the D3 doesn't even have the quality button so I take back that praise- donkey:LOL:

I just feel underwhelmed- I'd like to see the ISO- no native increase and once you're into expanded territory it's not exactly great though a choice between shot/ no shot, fair enough I suppose.

I'd like to see the dynamic range as well but little things like 'new lcd' screen are annoying. I just think it's 921k dots- Canon are putting out 1M, am I not good enough to get 1M dots or can't you build one?

They also seem very happy about the video frame rates they should have had in the D300S.
Increasing the flash synch speed or the max shutter speed would have been more revolutionary- 1/250 and 1/8000- boring- who cares if you need it- who actually needs a D4?;)
There are some good things so lets hope it's the start of Nikon getting their act together after their strategic roadmap was definitely running out of ink.
 
realspeed said:
Why oh why did Nikon have to produce a new camera with movie mode???? It must rank as one of the biggest blunders yet by Nikon. Anyone with any sense who wanted to shoot movies will go and buy a proper camcorder built for the job. If Nikon had stuck to making a "proper" DSLR stills camera only with that spec the price would have dropped considerably and sold a lot more.

Sorry Nikon but you have messed up big time with the D4.

Realspeed
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I'm often asked for short movie clips by commercial clients. The movie mode helps me earn money from my camera... Surely that's the whole point of a 'pro' camera.
 
^ This.

Video is here. People need and want it.

Nikon screwed up by not grasping that fact properly. Biggest blunder- taking from D90 to D4 to get it up to speed with canon- not leading edge, just up to speed.
 
Flashman and Dr_O are right regarding the inclusion of video, part of the 5dmkIIs popularity is due to the good quality movies that can be taken from it.........good enough that film makers are using them alongside and in some rare occurrences (though growing more common) instead of broadcast camcorders.
It would have been a monumental b*lls up if Nikon hadn't included a beefed up video mode, it may not be something that interests some people (me included) but it sells cameras so it's here to stay.
 
specialman said:
Same here - wonder how it'll stack up against the AF-D?
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I've not used it, but i am in the market for an 85 prime.
 
OutLore said:
Fixed that for a lot of people....
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wasn't there a thread about altering other people quotes? i know this is a joke, but its in the public domain.
 
Having already got an excellent Panasonic camcorder why on earth should I want a camera with a movie mode. I can take short film clips or up to 8 hours with it, something the D4 just can't do. No Nikon should definately not go down the "duel" mode camera route. If they stayed with a stills camera only they could then go into the camcorder side of photography and make more sales

Realspeed
 
realspeed said:
Having already got an excellent Panasonic camcorder why on earth should I want a camera with a movie mode. I can take short film clips or up to 8 hours with it, something the D4 just can't do. No Nikon should definately not go down the "duel" mode camera route. If they stayed with a stills camera only they could then go into the camcorder side of photography and make more sales

Realspeed
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Video in DSLR has been around a good while now. It would of been a serious blunder by Nikon if they hadn't and probably of hurt sale a lot.

I know you don't want it, I've never actually used it either, but to say they shouldn't of done it is a mistake, just looking at the rest of the market will tell you that
 
realspeed said:
Having already got an excellent Panasonic camcorder why on earth should I want a camera with a movie mode. I can take short film clips or up to 8 hours with it, something the D4 just can't do. No Nikon should definately not go down the "duel" mode camera route. If they stayed with a stills camera only they could then go into the camcorder side of photography and make more sales

Realspeed
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Not sure your fully grasping the benefits of the movie mode on the DSLR. Can your camcorder use interchangeable lenses? Can you dynamically adjust the DoF on it? Manually adjust the focus on the fly? The quality of output/optics on a pro level slr with pro level lenses will blow any non-pro video solution out of the water.

Plus, any pro video user is likely to combine short clips in post rather than record a single 8 hour stretch of scene.

I'm getting the D4 for its video benefits also.
 
I don't think Nikon will have a problem selling this.

As mentioned somewhere else, more and more pros are making video blogs, shooting clips for the web, shooting footage for future projects (movies etc) and likewise, why wouldn't Nikon include a seemingly top-notch video function? It's inevitable that all DSLRs will carry video and as we progress, so the functionality and flexibility of the video option will improve - the D4 looks (on paper) to be an improvement over just about everything else - time will tell if it is the best on the market.

Okay, I've got into video lately (not shot on a DSLR might I add) so this does interest me, but I can totally see the ease with which photographers can now shoot moving images and denying that it should feature in a DSLR is just denying progress to ask extent. Did people fret this much when video camera started to cary a stills function?.....

But I think it'll be far from a 'mess up' - how much it builds on the D3 range will be found out as and when more D3 users move over to it. Will it be revolutionary? Maybe, maybe not. To someone who's say, using a D300, it could well be. To someone using a D3s then it'll probably less so. But there will still be improvements that will benefit users (illuminated buttons, the AF toggle, extended base ISO of 50).
 
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*LOL* well must be just me then.......


Hmmmm..... all to myself
 
realspeed said:
If Nikon had stuck to making a "proper" DSLR stills camera only with that spec the price would have dropped considerably and sold a lot more.
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It doesn't cost much more to add yet will make the camera appeal to others who want to use those features. I'd be willing to bet that they will sell more because it is there than if it wasn't.
 
kalibre said:
Not sure your fully grasping the benefits of the movie mode on the DSLR. Can your camcorder use interchangeable lenses? Can you dynamically adjust the DoF on it? Manually adjust the focus on the fly? The quality of output/optics on a pro level slr with pro level lenses will blow any non-pro video solution out of the water.

Plus, any pro video user is likely to combine short clips in post rather than record a single 8 hour stretch of scene.

I'm getting the D4 for its video benefits also.
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have to agree here, although I don't particularly use video mode that much it does look great filmed at f1.4...
 
I wish my 1d Mk 3 had movie mode. I have a "proper" camcorder but it's not feasible to take everywhere with me.

I want to be able to take short clips. For example, let's say I'm photographing a birthday party. Then the karaoke starts. Great to be able to get some clips for Youtube without having to have extra kit.
 
Personally after all the speculation and waiting, this has left me rather under whelmed :( D3sX spring to mind. Don't see lots of D3 and D3s users rushing out to part with their hard earned.
 
What do people think of the different card slots, I mean CF x2 makes sense and 2 x XQD makes sense but what is the rationale behind one of each other than just use one or the other?
 
The23rdman said:
wasn't there a thread about altering other people quotes? i know this is a joke, but its in the public domain.
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Quite possibly - I didn't see it, and as it's not directly aimed at anyone and is in no way derogatory, I would imagine the fact that it's in the public domain is irrelevant.

If you're worried about it, report the post to the mods and they'll fix it if they think it warrants it (y)
 
The23rdman said:
I've not used it, but i am in the market for an 85 prime.
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The 85mm f/1.8 is a great optic. I had the AF version, not the AF-D but didn't find any issues with regard to exposure and flash metering. I expect the new one has better AF, and will come with all the coating and what-not that the old one didn't have. £470 is steep, but if it drops to a £100 or so then it'll be pretty good value.... IF it is a better product than the AF-D version.

**Woop** Just noticed this is my 5,000th post. :)
 
specialman said:
The 85mm f/1.8 is a great optic. I had the AF version, not the AF-D but didn't find any issues with regard to exposure and flash metering. I expect the new one has better AF, and will come with all the coating and what-not that the old one didn't have. £470 is steep, but if it drops to a £100 or so then it'll be pretty good value.... IF it is a better product than the AF-D version.

**Woop** Just noticed this is my 5,000th post. :)
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What I'm hoping is they've fixed the longitudinal CA, and made the AF a bit faster. I don't know what it is about the design, but at f1.8 it's horrible in contrasty light. Disappears once you stop down a bit, though. Unless both those things happen, I won't be upgrading because it has done pretty nicely for a £300 lens :)
 
Another feature new to the D4 that hasn't had much coverage is the in-camera HDR facility, this could be interesting, would be nice to see a little more information and some examples.
 
realspeed said:
Why oh why did Nikon have to produce a new camera with movie mode???? It must rank as one of the biggest blunders yet by Nikon. Anyone with any sense who wanted to shoot movies will go and buy a proper camcorder built for the job. If Nikon had stuck to making a "proper" DSLR stills camera only with that spec the price would have dropped considerably and sold a lot more.

Sorry Nikon but you have messed up big time with the D4.

Realspeed
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Could not agree more. To do a proper job you need the proper tools. I have owned a D3S for more than a year now and have yet to switch on the movie mode.

I bet it still comes with the same rubbish strap that it's predecessors have.

Graham
 
Joe T said:
So you've not even tried it then? Odd.
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No point mate, it doesn`t do a proper job anyway...............:shrug:
 
kalibre said:
And by what criteria is that odd conclusion drawn?
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Because the D3s' video capacity was crippled from the outset at only 1280x720 (24fps), I would imagine.
 
Meyssonnier said:
Could not agree more. To do a proper job you need the proper tools. I have owned a D3S for more than a year now and have yet to switch on the movie mode.
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kalibre said:
And by what criteria is that odd conclusion drawn?
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The one above.

If one has never used a function of ones camera, then how does one know how good or bad said function is?

Hence my sarcastic comment.
 
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